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This tutorial demonstrates how to create a copperplate effect. To work along, you can download the image I am working with Here. Unzip the file and open it onto Photoshop’s workspace.
Undo and Navigation Steps
Two ways of undoing steps are from the top menu, Edit then Step Backwards. Alternatively, click a previous snapshot in the History Palette.
Navigate (zoom in and pan) your image using the Navigator Palette,
or the Zoom Tool. 
Activate The Hand Tool by tapping the Spacebar, keeping the Spacebar pressed, pan your image in the usual way. 
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Open your choice of photograph onto Photoshop’s workspace.
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Then duplicate the layer by dragging it over the following Create a new layer icon.
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Working on the duplicated layer, from the top menu, choose Image then choose Adjustments then choose Channel Mixer. In the subsequent dialogue box, set the following attributes, then click OK.
 
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It is time to isolate the photograph’s Highlights, Midtones and Shadows. Therefore, from the top menu, choose Select then choose Colour Range. In the subsequent dialogue box, click open the Select menu, and click Shadows from the drop-down list, then click OK.
Your image’s shadow tones will be isolated by a selection marquee, as demonstrated below.
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From the top menu, choose Select then choose Save Selection. In the subsequent dialogue box, type Shadows into the Name box, and click OK.
Then press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee. Your Shadows selection has been saved to an Alpha Channel, and will be retrieved later. More about Alpha Channels Here!
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Now, repeat Chapter 4 - and this time in the Colour Range dialogue box, click Midtones - this isolates your image’s Midtones with a selection marquee. Save the selection to an Alpha Channel, exactly as you did in Chapter 5 - this time, naming it Midtones. Then press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee.
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Again, repeat Chapter 4, and this time in the Colour Range dialogue box click Highlights - this isolates your image’s Highlights with a selection marquee. Save the selection to an Alpha Channel, exactly as you did in Chapter 5 - this time, naming it Highlights. Then press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee.
Tip - Preserving the selection marquees
Saving your photograph as a .psd file preserves your three selections. This means you can close Photoshop, and when you reopen it, (and the image) the three selection marquees can be retrieved from their Alpha Channels and applied to your image; if you don’t save your selections, they will be lost as soon as you close Photoshop.
You now have three separate areas of your photograph; Shadows, Midtones and Highlights, saved to their respective Alpha Channels.
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From the Layers palette, click the Channels tab. If you cannot see the Channels tab, from the top menu, choose Window then click a tick before Channels. In the Channels palette, scroll down the layers and activate Highlights. Then from the top menu, choose Filter then choose Blur then choose Gaussian; set a Radius of around 4 then click OK. Note: Larger images require a higher Radius setting.
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Still in Channels, activate Midtones, and apply the same Gaussian Blur Radius to it. Then activate Highlights and apply the same Gaussian Blur Radius to it. Return the Layers palette by clicking the Layers tab.
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It is time to retrieve a selection. Therefore, ensure you are working on the top layer, then from the top menu, choose Select then choose Load Selection. In the subsequent Load Selection dialogue box, scroll down the Channel menu and click Highlights.
The Highlights selection will then be applied to your image.
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Now, set your Foreground colour to the following. 
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Then press Alt then your Backspace key. This fills your selected area with the Foreground colour. Press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee.
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Now, retrieve the Midtones selection from its Alpha Channel, as you did in Chapter 10, and change the Foreground to the following colour.
 
Then press Alt then Backspace to fill the selection with the Foreground colour, and press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee.
 
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Now, retrieve the Shadows selection from its Alpha Channel, as you did in Chapter 10, and change the Foreground to the following colour.
 
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Then press Alt then Backspace to fill the selection with the Foreground colour, and press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee.
Tip
If the Highlights, Midtones or Shadows marquees have missed areas of your image, (such as the grey area in the sky above), activate the Clone Tool - Lesson, and with a low Opacity and a Soft Brush, carefully clone brown/copper pixels over the grey - ensuring you pick up pixels that are as close to the area as possible.
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Now, from the Layers palette, change the top layer’s Blend Mode to Colour.
 
17/ Add Grain
Create a new layer at the top of the layers stack by clicking the Create a new layer icon. Set the Foreground to Grey, then press Alt then Backspace to fill the new layer with the Foreground (grey) colour.
  
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From the top menu, choose Filter then choose Texture then choose Grain. In the subsequent dialogue box, set the following attributes.
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Then change the grain layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay. To reduce the amount of grain, lower its (layer) Opacity to around 70%.
 
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To finish, from the top menu, choose Layer then choose Flatten Image, then save your work
Wendi E M Scarth. Top of Page - Home.
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